Sous Vide Whole Chicken with Lemon Beurre Blanc

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Tender, juicy, and flavorful, once you sous vide a whole chicken, there's no going back! This Sous Vide Whole Chicken with Lemon Beurre Blanc is so easy to make and is the perfect chicken dinner.

Whether you need a chicken dinner for a weeknight family meal or if you'd like to entertain guests with it, this sous vide whole chicken is absolutely perfect. Slowly cooked over the day and then finished in the oven or grill, you'll have a tender and moist whole chicken ready without a lot of work (like this soy sauce chicken).

This sous vide, not poached, whole chicken is paired with a light and creamy lemon beurre blanc that brings a nice bright flavor to the meal. It's made in less than 10 minutes and I highly recommend serving them together.

We have seriously fallen head over heels in love with this chicken. Roasted chicken is one of the ultimate delicious comfort foods (this Dutch oven roasted chicken, Indian roasted chicken, air fryer whole chicken and Moroccan roasted chicken are favorites), but this sous vide chicken just takes the cake.

It comes out so incredibly buttery, tender and juicy...every part, even the breast...and the lemon buerre blanc is just the perfect accompaniment, especially paired with this pesto challah bread on the side to sop up sauce!

And if we're talking sous vide, we have also fallen in love with these sous vide chicken thighs and this sous vide fried chicken if you're looking for a little southern twist on your sous vide chicken!

Check out the sous vide whole chicken story!

What is Sous Vide?

Sous vide is basically a method of cooking using what is called an immersion circulator. This immersion circulator circulates water in a temperature controlled water bath at a certain temperature to perfectly cook your food every time.

Because the temperature doesn't change, and it keeps your meat (or dessert, veggies, etc.) at the same temperature, your risk of overcooking becomes very minimal.

To learn even more about sous vide cooking, head over and read "what is sous vide cooking."

What is the Water Displacement Method?

The displacement method is where you slowly submerge a ziplock bag in water pushing the air out of the top of the bag (the bag should be slightly open at the top to allow air to escape).

Use a clip (I use binder clips) to clip the bag to the side to keep it from floating and getting air and/or water inside.

Tools Used

• Anova Precision Sous Vide Cooker
• 12 quart container for water bath
• Vacuum sealer
• 16 ounce canning jars

If you don't have a lot of experience cooking sous vide yet, you may want to pop over and read what sous vide cooking is and some tips.

Why This Recipe Works

1. When roasting a whole chicken, parts of the chicken, like the breasts, will finish cooking and start drying out before the chicken thighs are ready. With the sous vide, the whole chicken is cooked evenly throughout.
2. The chicken is super juicy and flavorful as when cooking at a lower temperature, less juice leaves the chicken which leads to the chicken being way more flavorful when sous vide than roasted or slow cooked. Plus...butter...so much delicious butter.
3. You can easily finish this chicken to get crispy skin and serve whole or you can skip it altogether and shred the chicken for salads (try it in this strawberry spinach salad) or pasta salads!

The Ingredients

For this sous vide chicken recipe, you won’t believe that you only need a couple of simple ingredients!

Tools Used

• Anova Precision Sous Vide Cooker
• 12 quart container for water bath
• Vacuum sealer
• 4 ounce canning jars

If you don't have a lot of experience cooking sous vide yet, you may want to pop over and read what sous vide cooking is and some tips.

Step by Step Instructions

Generously rub the salt on the chicken and let it sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight on a plate.

Remove from the fridge and stuff the cavity with the thyme, onion and lemon.

Gently use your fingers to separate the skin on the breast from the meat and put a tablespoon of butter under each side.

Place the chicken in a bag with the smashed garlic cloves, fresh thyme and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.

Use a vacuum sealer to seal the bag (or use the water displacement method - see below).

Heat a water bath to 150F degrees and place the chicken in. Cook for 6 hours.

Remove the chicken from the sous vide cooker and immediately place in an ice bath for 10 minutes to cool the chicken.

While the chicken is in the ice bath, heat a broiler on high.

Remove the chicken from the bag and place in a large baking dish under the broiler.

Broil for 5-10 minutes, watching closely to ensure the skin doesn't burn.

You can also use a large high powered kitchen torch, sear it in a pan, or finish over a hot grill if your oven is not available.

I LOVE this chicken served with these truffle mashed potatoes or crockpot au gratin potatoes.

How to Make the Lemon Buerre Blanc

Bring the wine to a simmer over medium heat and stir in half the butter.

Simmer, over medium low heat, for about 5 minutes.

Stir in remaining butter and add salt to taste. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Drizzle it over the chicken when serving. This sauce is also amazing on these sous vide scallops or even these braised beef short ribs.

Expert Tips

• It's important to stuff the cavity of your chicken. As you can't get all the air out of the cavity when it's vacuumed sealed, the stuffing in the cavity helps hold the temperature for your chicken as it holds onto the heat. Plus the lemon and onion adds extra flavors. If you have fresh herbs on hand, you are more than welcomed to stuff that in the cavity as well.
• When you leave the chicken uncovered in the fridge overnight with salt, it helps draw out the moisture so when you finish the chicken off in the oven, the skin crisps up beautifully so don't skip this step!
• Measure twice, cut once when it comes to the vacuum seal. Since a whole chicken is quite large, double check that your packaging can cover the entire chicken.
• Hold onto the chicken carcass to make bone broth with! Here's how you can make Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth.

Packaging A Chicken For the Sous Vide

An essential part of cooking sous vide is putting ingredients in an air-tight bag or container. You can do this by using either vacuum sealing or the water displacement method.

A vacuum sealer removes all the air and seals the contents of a plastic bag through a vacuum.

Having the bag sealed airtight prevents it from floating, which can result in uneven cooking and possible contamination with bacteria. I use a FoodSaver to seal my food.

What is the Water Displacement Method?

The displacement method is where you slowly submerge a ziplock bag in water pushing the air out of the top of the bag (the bag should be slightly open at the top to allow air to escape).

Use a clip (I use binder clips) to clip the bag to the side to keep it from floating and getting air and/or water inside.

Common Questions

Did you make this sous vide whole chicken recipe? Rate it and leave a comment below to let me know how it turned out!